Apples, Plums, and Pears…oh my!

This past spring, only 6 weeks before our sweet Ivy joined our family, we bought a home here in Bend.  My dear husband grew up here, and I’ve lived here for 12 years.  In our 10 years of marriage we’ve lived in his parents guest house, two different apartments, rented a lovely home on a storybook street just three houses away from some of our dearest friends, and even bought a home in Davenport, Iowa that we sold only a year and a half later.  While we had wanted to purchase a home here in Bend quite some time ago, home prices were outrageous, so we settled on a rental in our favorite part of town and counted our blessings!  When home prices finally started to go down and we were a bit more financially stable, we decided to get ourselves in gear and find a place of our own to call home.

We found a charming home that we loved, put an offer on, and waited 8 months for the bank to approve!  We signed papers, rushed to have the wood floors refinished (thanks Summers!), painted, unpacked, and welcomed Ivy into our new home. ♥

My favorite part of our new home is the backyard.  It’s not huge, but it’s quaint and cute with a large back deck that we ate our meals on all summer long, and beautiful, established fruit trees!  We have an apple tree, a few pear trees, and a greengage plum tree!  Late this summer, up until just a couple of weeks ago, we have been enjoying our fruit that we picked.

Aaron picked…

…and Ivy watched

…and I baked

Dimply Greengage Plum Cake

 

I made a delicious Dimply Greengage Plum Cake, tons of jars of heavenly Greengage Plum Vanilla Jam, and several mini apple pies!  Ivy and I had so much fun delivering them to friends and family!

Some day I can picture Ivy being so excited when fruit picking day comes.  I can see her sitting on daddy’s ladder, helping him pick apples, and then running to get her apron and stool to help me bake them into pies.  I can’t wait to see that sweet twinkle in her eye when she smiles with excitement!

Happy Fall everyone!